The massive task of expanding the Mariposa Land Port of Entry in Nogales, Ariz., is under way.
Allison Moore, communications director for the Fresh Produce Association of the Americas, Nogales, said Feb. 22 that a building contractor for the port has not yet been named but workers already are moving dirt to prepare the site.
The federal government allocated more than $13 million to fund the design process for a new facility and the acquisition of additional land in 2007, and the Obama administration released $199 million in stimulus funds for construction last year.
Ground was broken on the project in September, and the project is expected to be completed in 2014, Moore said.
The project will expand the port from four truck lanes to eight, and Moore said six lanes will be open during construction.
The project also will expand the border crossing to 12 lanes for passenger vehicles and will include new lanes for buses and pedestrians.
When the port was built in the 1970s, it was intended to handle about 400 trucks a day, but Moore said more than 1,400 trucks a day pass through the facility during peak periods.
Meanwhile, Moore said FPAA continues its search for a new president, but she said there is no timeline to find a successor to Jesse Driskill, who left the organization Nov. 15 to become operations manager for Meyer LLC, Nogales.
Moore said the opening has generated “great interest.”
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